Foxic
Foxic is a heavyweight robot which competed in the 2016 series of Robot Wars. Foxic was built by Craig Danby of Team Danby. Chris Danby joined him on the team after his own robot, Apex, was not selected to compete. Team Danby had previously competed on Robot Wars with featherweight robot Gi-Ant-O, and with antweight robot Anto. The robot's name comes from another robot Craig and a friend made when they younger, it was entered into a junior micromouse competition. The word Foxic is based on Sonic the Hedgehog, imagining him as a fox. Robot History Live Events Foxic has made an appearance at the Robot Wars live event in Gloucester, fighting Shockwave and The Steel Avenger in a melee. Foxic also took part in the Robogames 2015 event in America, where it lost its first round battle against Evil Plunger, due it getting immobilised after being rammed and lifted against the arena wall in the opening seconds of the fight. Foxic also competed at a Robots Live! event in Stevenage, battling Eruption. RoboGames 2015 Foxics first fight was against Evil Plunger The fight began with both robots coming out of their squares. Unfortunately for Foxic Evil Plunger quickly got the upper hand and got underneath and flipped them out the arena within 6 seconds of the fight starting. This put Foxic in the losers bracket where it faced Stephen Felk's Pump. This fight started with Foxic immediately having problems with their drive, this allowed Pump to get its spinning blade up to speed and slam into the rear of Foxic who promptly drove off and broke down, eliminating Foxic from the competition. Robot Wars Series 8 Foxic competed in Episode 2, where it faced two other newcomers to the main wars, Chimera and Draven, as well as M.R. Speed Squared. This was Team Danby's first televised heavyweight battle, despite their several appearances in featherweight and antweight classes. Foxic was targeted by Draven at the beginning of the battle, although because Foxic's lifter was lower to the ground, it snuck underneath Draven. Foxic drove away from Draven, but was caught, and slammed from behind. It became clear that Foxic was suffering from problems with its drive motors, as it became stuck in a CPZ, unable to move far away, incapable of turning sideways due to a gear loosening. Foxic nudged the already-defeated Chimera, but was attacked from behind by Draven. However, it was at this point that M.R. Speed Squared immobilised the unassuming Draven, meaning Foxic would qualify as the other mobile machine. In the group stages, Foxic was first drawn against fellow live circuit competitors Shockwave. Team Danby replaced Foxic's lifting arm with a smaller lifting scoop, the 'tactical reason' being that the longer arm would no longer fit on the robot, which Craig Danby whispered to Angela Scanlon. Jonathan Pearce remarked that Team Danby were aiming to be 'Robot Wars villains', implying arrogance from the team, despite their off-screen assistance rebuilding Nuts and cut banter. In the battle, both robots met in the centre of the arena, but Foxic's ground clearance was lower, so it was able to circle Shockwave around. However, Foxic briefly lost mobility, and Shockwave pressed the pit release and edge Foxic towards the pit, into the arena wall, and then Dead Metal's CPZ. Dead Metal gripped Foxic, but surprisingly, Foxic wedged itself under Dead Metal, lifting its wheels off the ground, and was powerful enough to push it across the arena. Shockwave then joined in, wedging underneath Foxic. With Foxic's wheels off the ground, Dead Metal easily pushed both competitors back across the arena, and sliced into Foxic's top armour. Foxic displayed minimal movement after this attack, and Shockwave barreled it into the arena wall, turning it over. Foxic freed itself through the use of its lifting scoop, but with its weapon now off the floor, Shockwave exposed Foxic's ground clearance, and pushed it into the pit. In Foxic's next battle, it faced M.R. Speed Squared, the robot that helped Foxic qualify for the round. The robots never attacked each other in the first-round qualifier, and it was a similar story in their head-to-head, as after an attempt to attack M.R. Speed Squared was impeded by a collision with the floor flipper, Team Danby honoured their desire to attack the house robots. Foxic drove straight into the claws of Dead Metal, where Sir Killalot also came in to assist. Dead Metal cut into Foxic's raised scoop, generating sparks. Foxic drove away, and edged near the pit, where it finally made first contact with M.R. Speed Squared, reversing into it without pushing it very far. Foxic attempted to lift M.R. Speed Squared, but did not gain a purchase. One final push from Foxic allowed it to slip under M.R. Speed Squared, and push it backwards slightly, before cease was called on a very tentative battle. Chris Danby called the battle 'terrible', while Chris Danby revealed to Angela Scanlon that Foxic was once again incapable of turning sideways, giving the robot momentum only on forward and backward drives. The resulting Judges' decision was a split decision in favour of M.R. Speed Squared, despite Professor Sethu Vijayakumar's vote being in Foxic's favour, as Foxic had sustained damage from the house robots, despite being the more offensive machine towards the end. Foxic was unable to progress to the Heat Final after this loss, but Team Danby were given the chance to fight Thor, much to their pleasure, as the front end of Foxic had been specifically designed to defeat axe robots, which the team had previously defeated on past occasions.As planned, Foxic entered the battle with its scoop raised in order to protect itself from Thor's axe, though Thor made no effort to use its weapon in the opening stages. Team Danby encouraged Jason Marston to fire his weapon, as they pushed Thor into the pit release button, although Dead Metal attempted to cut into the more offensive Foxic, although it was too low to gain a proper purchase on. Foxic escaped, its drive motors finally fixed, but was pushed around the arena by Thor. As Thor edged Foxic towards the flame pit, Foxic finally sustained a blow from the axe, and was left to burn on the flame pit. Foxic was immobilised at this stage, and never escaped the flame pit, and was torched as Dead Metal cut into its scoop. Foxic was counted out, and Matilda used her tusks to flip Foxic into the pit. RoboGames 2016 Foxic's first match was against Last Rites This fight started with Last Rites spinning up to speed .From the start Foxic was having radio problems and one side of its drive was not working. However Foxic quickly reorganized and used its wedge to deflect blows from Last Rites spinner. Unfortunately after this short display of mobility Foxics mechanical gremlins struck again allowing Last Rites to come in and attack the British machine from the side. Foxic retaliated by wedging into Last Rites and popping it into the air. By this point however the blows from Last Rites coupled with Foxics drive issues proved too much and they were counted out. Foxic's next fight was against Vlad The Impaler II Foxic was again having drive problems this fight, and Vlad drove up on Foxics wedge, allowing the British machine to get a lift in. However after this Foxic broke down giving Vlad the win by knockout. Robot Wars Series 9 Foxic competed in Episode 3, where it once again faced M.R. Speed Squared in the first round, alongside new robots Expulsion and Heavy Metal. Craig Danby wore a fox hoodie, and equipped Foxic with its standard lifting face. Foxic started the battle in front of the Arena Tyre, so it immediately reversed into it, activating the pit. It rushed under Expulsion, causing that robot immediate problems, and buffeted M.R. Speed Squared away. Foxic followed Heavy Metal, which pushed Expulsion into Sir Killalot, but Foxic took a hit to the side from M.R. Speed Squared. Foxic survived this attack, unlike the immobile Expulsion, and Heavy Metal, which was only operational on one wheel. Despite this advantageous position, Foxic reversed onto the floor flipper, where it was turned over. Foxic's lifting arm was not working for unknown reasons, so it could not self-right, and was beached on its back. Heavy Metal was deemed to be more mobile than the overturned Foxic, and it was eliminated in the first round. Edited out of the televised battle, Foxic was held up high by Sir Killalot and pitted for added punishment. Results Wins/Losses *Wins: 2 *Losses: 9 Category:Competitors Category:UK Robot Wars Competitors Category:Robot Wars Live Event Competitors Category:Heavyweight Robots Category:Robots with more losses than wins Category:Robots with Lifting Scoops Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots with puns for names Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Robogames competitors Category:Robot Wars 2016 competitors Category:Robots Thrown out of the Arena Category:Robots with names based on video games Category:RoboGames 2015 competitors Category:RoboGames 2016 competitors Category:Robot Wars 2017 competitors Category:US Robots Category:Robots from North Carolina Category:Robots from Bristol Category:Robots from Staffordshire Category:British Robots Category:4th Place winners Category:Robot Wars Series 10 Non-Qualifiers